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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

D.I.Y. How to sew a pant hem

If you are a constant thrifter like myself (or sister) you might find yourself in love with pair of pants that are perfect, except... they're too long, or you're too short. Either way you'll have to get them hemmed. Here's the good news, it's easy to do yourself with a sewing machine. see for yourself:

1. Put the pants on and fold them up where you want them to rest pin them there, use the heel as the lowest point and make sure you're wearing the shoes that you plan to wear with the pants!

2. Take the pants off and flip them inside out, match the unfolded leg to the original fold. Fold that second leg up and pin the whole hem so it's all the same length. Once the second leg is the same length as the first, let the first one out and match it to the second one. (sorry that's the most confusing sentence. to make it easier you could also pin them while wearing the pants inside out.)

3. Iron the pants on the crease without melting the pins. Don't skip this step it's what makes the sewing part go smoothly and correctly.

4. Sew while the pants are still inside out. Make sure to back stitch when starting so the hem doesn't come undone and back stitch at the end to keep it all together.

Just to show you the difference here is how much we had to cut off...

5. Sew the other leg's hem.

6. While the pants are still inside out, cut just above the hem line to finish them off.

The scrap fabric (save it for another project or trash it)

Here they are finished... although I guess looking at this photo they need to be ironed.